The nation's pipeline companies hope to reassure wary neighbors by efforts to improve pipeline integrity and safety through programs such as the just-launched Intelligent Pipeline Integrity Program, or iPIPE.

The nation's pipeline companies hope to reassure wary neighbors by efforts to improve pipeline integrity and safety through programs such as the just-launched Intelligent Pipeline Integrity Program, or iPIPE.

Photo: Magellan Midstream Partners

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The nation's pipeline companies hope to reassure wary neighbors by efforts to improve pipeline integrity and safety through programs such as the just-launched Intelligent Pipeline Integrity Program, or iPIPE.

The nation's pipeline companies hope to reassure wary neighbors by efforts to improve pipeline integrity and safety through programs such as the just-launched Intelligent Pipeline Integrity Program, or iPIPE.

Photo: Magellan Midstream Partners

Image 3 of 3

New consortium sets goal of improving pipelines

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New and expanded pipelines across the country are being watched closely by communities wondering how safe and secure they will be.

The nation's pipeline companies hope to reassure wary neighbors by efforts to improve pipeline integrity and safety through programs such as the just-launched Intelligent Pipeline Integrity Program, or iPIPE.

Launched in North Dakota, iPIPE hopes to foster new pipeline technology that will benefit pipelines across the nation, including those throughout the Permian Basin.

"When the governor of North Dakota, Doug Burgum, last year talked with the North Dakota petroleum industry and service industry, he threw down the gauntlet to the industry to take responsibility to make sure the industry was doing its best, that he didn't want heavy regulations," Kevin Cooper, chief information officer at Goodnight Midstream, a founding member of the consortium, told the Reporter-Telegram by telephone.

Alongside Hess Corporation, Oasis Midstream and Statoil — now Equinor — the companies approached the Energy & Environmental Research Center at the University of North Dakota with a proposal to gather companies developing pipeline technology, he said.

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"If we could get critical mass, would the North Dakota Industrial Commission invest?" Cooper said. In mid-May, the commission approved the program and funds to help further new pipeline technology development.

Jay Almlie, principal engineer of mid-downstream at the EEOC, agreed the effort is industry-driven.

"The impetus is to do all they can to avoid pipeline spills and leaks," he told the Reporter-Telegram by telephone. "Not just detect them, but prevent them, especially the liquids pipelines in North Dakota and in the Permian."

He said the motivation is not just a desire to be good neighbors, but is financial, as well. "Those spills cost a lot of money."

While the technology may not apply to all companies — Goodnight, for example, does not have any cast-iron pipes in its network of water gathering systems and saltwater disposal wells — Cooper said the members support technology that improves operations. The goal is to find technologies "that would make everyone better, develop technologies that will become part of the marketplace," he said.

Almlie said the group is not seeking advanced technology — "if it were available, they'd be using it" — but emerging technology that is close but not yet available which needs that "extra piece" to make it commercially viable and extra funding to finish the development.

On May 1, the group held a "Shark Tank"-style event at which eight companies presented their technologies. Two were selected for testing, and Cooper said those testing contracts are being finalized.

The second technology uses a golf ball-sized sensor that floats through the pipeline and sends back data on the pipeline's health and integrity. The sensor can be set to monitor various liquids, from crude to water, and can even measure the thickness of the pipeline walls to pinpoint possible erosion.

"We said if we had the resources, we could fund all of them; there was so much exciting technology," Almlie said.

He said the effort was not because of anything specific to North Dakota, but"North Dakota operators were motivated to begin."

Cooper said North Dakota's Bakken Shale play is newer than the Permian Basin, which has been producing for about 95 years.

"North Dakota is a younger field, and if you look at emerging technology, the younger fields are more progressive," he said.

Ultimately, Almlie said, "the hope is to proliferate best practices across the industry as we develop them."